This light fixture was capped and has two white lines pigged tailed together with a single orange line wrapped around, two orange lines pigged tailed together, two yellow lines pigged tailed together. There are recessed lighting adjacent to this fixture and the switch box contains a separate switch for the recessed lighting and one for this ceiling fixture.
The fixture that we plan to attach has traditional white, black, and ground.
There does not appear to be a ground wire in the ceiling fixture.
How do I determine what the "hot" line is that I would connect to the black line of the new fixture?
Best Answer
It looks like a metal box, with yellow and orange wires it is probably a commercial installation using conduit and the box is the ground in that case. Commercial or building requiring conduit because of the location the colored wires are the hots. White and gray are neutral, green is for ground and every other color is for hot. A condo above 3 stories and some single family homes in locations like Chicago require wiring in conduit.
You will need to identify the color that is switched it may be the orange twisted around the white, I would verify at the switch.
If the orange is on a switch put the black on the orange and white with white. The fixture can be grounded by adding a screw to the mounting plate or box by adding a machine screw (grounding screws are supposed to be green and are usually 10-32 on the box I have seen 8-32 and 6-32 on the mounting ring these are usually shipped with those screws in them.